NIT 2012: Seton Hall and More Teams That Must Improve to Win Tournament

The 2012 NIT kicked off last night and there were a number of good games that took place in the shadow of the NCAA Tournament’s play-in matchups.

It almost involved a huge upset, with No. 8 seeded Stony Brook almost upsetting the No. 1 seed Seton Hall Pirates.

The Pirates were extremely lucky that the Seawolves’ three-point attempt with a few ticks left on the clock clanked off the rim. They are even more fortunate that the game-tying put back just rolled off the iron.

Will Seton Hall be able to use that near-loss as motivation? Keep reading to find out what they can do to get better and another team that will need to improve to win the NIT.

Seton Hall

The Pirates have the talent to beat any team in this tournament, but they need to get their collective heads together and on the same page.

This squad has knocked off UConn and Georgetown during the regular season but stumbled down the stretch and nearly lost it last night.

They’ll face UMass next and need to get back to their game of moving the ball, looking for good shots and limiting turnovers.

Northwestern

The Huskies barely escaped against Akron last night in a thriller. They came out and finished the first half with an eight point lead, but found themselves close to losing as the Zips made a furious comeback.

Alex Abreu had a chance to win it for Akron with a three at the buzzer but missed. It proves that Northwestern must figure out how to close games out if they want to keep advancing.

They are also going to need to get contributions from their bench, as the three players that saw time only contributed for a combined three points, all courtesy of a Alex Marcotullio trey.

If they can close and get bench points, NW has a chance to win this thing.